Book Review: The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

Paperback, 192 pages Published June 2018 by Tachyon Publications

I am not sure how I never read Peter Watts before but somehow I missed out. This book first got on my radar when Luke Barrage and Juliana of the Science Fiction Book Review podcast did an episode about a few months back. After listening to fifteen minutes of that episode I paused it and went to reserve a copy. I am glad I did and thank you Tachyon publications for sending Luke a copy because that is how it entered my books-a-sphere.

The Freeze-Frame Revolution is a mind bending science fiction novel that packs in more ideas and story into it's 192 pages than some novels three times its length. One of the hardest parts of space based hard sci-fi is for the writer to express the scope and size of the universe. When we look into the universe the distance and amount of years are beyond what most stories can contain. We can talk about distances that stretch thousands of light-years and journeys that would last thousands if not millions of years but it is a a different challenge to create a narrative with such scope. That is the cool thing about this novel - it doesn't shy away from this reality.

Watts is a scientist and the book comes off as hard science but in the afterword he admits to what he calls "handwavium." I think to the layman it all sounds convincing down to the black hole drive built into the center of the hollowed out Asteroid turned generation ship. When the story starts the main character Sunday Ahzmundin explains that they the mission is in its 66th million year since they left earth. If they had gone backwards instead of forward they would be in the time of Dinosaurs.

Sunday remembers earth because she only wakes and/or is brought back to life really for six days at time every few thousand years. The Mission is run by Chimp a HAL-9000 like AI, and the humans take turns waking when needed to build the Gates. Their purpose is to travel around the galaxy building wormhole gateways that will be a travel system for humans. The problem after millions of years building he gateways no humans have followed them.

Sunday and her fellow human travelers begin to wonder if the human race still exists and that leads to the question of what are they doing. They are already on their second trip around the milky way. Chimp doesn't question, he will keep the mission going until the heat death of the galaxy and humans fear they will be stuck with him.

So the question becomes how do you organize a revolution/ mutiny when you are only awake a few days every thousand years and the ship itself is a thinking machine?

I loved Freeze-Frame Revolution in part because of the massive cutting edge mind expanding ideas but also the human core of characters who development is not ignored. Watts has a biting tone and it is clear if you listen to interviews with him he is not in the routine of taking shit. This is a masterpiece of science fiction and has sold me that I need to read all Peter Watts that I can get my hands on.

NOTE: I went back and finished the Science Fiction Book review podcast and discovered that there are a couple of short stories also set in this universe. I'll have to read them at some point.

Here is the link to the SFBRP episode:

http://www.sfbrp.com/archives/1441

I also recommend this interview on Geek's Guide to the Galaxy:

https://geeksguideshow.com/2018/06/20/ggg315-peter-watts/